Julian Bear Runner facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Julian Bear Runner
|
|
|---|---|
| 43rd President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe | |
| In office December 7, 2018 – December 4, 2020 |
|
| Vice President | Darla Black (2018–19) Thomas Poor Bear (2019–20) |
| Preceded by | Troy "Scott" Weston |
| Succeeded by | Kevin Killer |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 2008–2011 |
Julian R. Bear Runner was president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe from 2018 to 2020. When elected, Bear Runner was the second-youngest person ever elected as president of the tribe.
Contents
Election
He was elected in 2018. At 33, he was the second-youngest person to ever be elected to the post. In 2020, he lost re-election to former state senator Kevin Killer.
Policies
COVID-19
Bear Runner responded forcefully to the COVID-19 pandemic, issuing lockdown and shelter in place orders. He also ordered checkpoints to be erected along state and federal highways that passed through the Pine Ridge reservation, to prevent the virus's spread to the people living there and to support contract tracing if an outside visitor was later found to be infected. This, plus similar actions from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, led to a public fight with South Dakota governor Kristi Noem who demanded the checkpoints be removed and threatened to sue the Oglala and Cheyenne if they were not. Bear Runner refused, stating, "since she won't protect tribal health and safety, tribes have no choice but to take matters into their own hands." When the checkpoints were not removed, Noem repeated her demands but did not sue the tribes.
Same-sex marriage
In 2019, the Oglala passed an ordinance to allow same-sex marriage. Bear Runner supported this ordinance; when anti-same-sex-marriage activists tried to put the ordinance up for a tribe-wide vote, Bear Runner cast the deciding "no" vote to preserve the same-sex marriage law.
